Lebanon’s first and only animation festival is back, with a fantasy menu of screenings, workshops and premières. During the week we feature a series of interviews from the festival's contributors; first up is Metropolis Art Cinema's Sara Maali.



"The genre of animation is very, very popular at the moment… What really pushed us to create this festival was the success of the film ‘Waltz with Bashir’. We said, ‘If someone can tell our story in this way, what are we doing from our part?’ Lebanon has plenty of well-developed animators… and there are many young people who work in this area who unfortunately don’t make their own films. They do commercial things to survive, so an independent cinema of animation doesn’t exist. I hope that the festival will become a real meeting point for animation professionals, for amateurs and for the public."

Autor: Ellen Hardy